Only a year after the end of the Civil War, the Black freeborn Henson family of Nanjemoy, MD, added son Matthew to their sharecropping family. The family moved to Washington, DC and both parents died before Matthew was 11 years old. At age 12, Matthew signed on as a cabin boy abord the sailing ship Katie Hines.
For six years, under the guidance of Captain Childs, Henson received an education, learned navigation and a variety of technical skills, became a competent sailor, and traveled around the world visiting the then Orient, North Africa, and the Black Sea.
Back on dry land in DC, Matthew Henson took a position as a clerk in furrier where a chance encounter changed his life and history. Matthew interacted with a naval officer newly returned from Greenland, who came to the shop to sell seal and walrus furs. Robert Peary, serving with the Naval Corp of Engineers was impressed with Matthew Henson’s knowledge, experience and sense of adventure. Peary hired Henson as his personal assistant.
For nearly twenty-three years Henson was the “first man” of explorer and mentor Robert Peary on seven voyages to the Arctic. Henson traveled to many countries and continents around the world, but he is most well known for his participation in the expedition on April 6, 1909, where he was among the first people to reach the North Pole. Because Henson was a Black man, he was largely overlooked while Peary received most of the accolades and credit.
He spent the remainder of his career in obscurity, working as a clerk at the U.S. Customs House in New York City. Late in his life, Henson received some long-overdue honors: the prestigious Explorers Club finally admitted him as a member in 1937, Congress awarded him the Peary Polar Expedition Medal in 1944, and Presidents Harry S. Truman and Dwight D. Eisenhower welcomed him to the White House. The 70-year-old Henson finally received the recognition he deserved and in 1944, he was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.